Backstabber
by DorkQueen
Summary: Sinead wasn't the mole. Jake was. And Ian was the one who found out. A retake on Trust No One, minor AmyxIan


**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the 39 Clues series.**

* * *

Always a Lucian, the first thought that popped up in Ian's mind when he pondered how to kick Jake Rosenbloom out of Amy's life was blackmail. There had to be something on that rude dolt, something he could use against him to convince Amy that he was a worthless peasant piece of trash.

So he did his research—or, rather, he called on his personal research team. After a week of pathetic reports of private school transfers and past girlfriends, Ian finally received news of something worthwhile. Apparently, the research team had found a trace of something unusual after running diagnostics on Rosenbloom's phone: once, on January 21, Rosenbloom had logged into an email account—not his usual Gmail account, but an account on an elite email service that was popular among Italian government officials.

Ian wondered. He had heard from Amy that Rosenbloom's father was an archaeologist (verified by Ian's researchers) and his mother was dead (which was harder to verify, as bodies could be so easily faked these days). So what was he doing with a classified Italian email account?

Rosenbloom was hiding something.

It took the team a whole day to hack into it, which was just further proof that this was the secret Ian was looking for. The contents, however, made him take a sharp gasp and reel back in his chair.

There were four emails in the inbox and they were addressed to Vesper 1.

Ian grabbed his phone and speed dialed 3. He waited.

He muttered a curse when Amy's annoyingly chirpy voice came on voicemail.

This was huge. This was devastating. By a twist of luck, Ian had stumbled onto a wasps' nest. Their lives now hang in the balance. Who would kill who first?

When the beep sounded, Ian whispered in a hoarse voice, "Amy, we're all in grave danger. _Trust no one..._"

* * *

"Grave danger?" Dan snorted when Amy replayed the voicemail for him. "Who says that?"

"Dan," Amy scolded, but her mind was elsewhere. Her eyebrows knitted in concern. "Whatever is the matter, it must be really important if Ian refused to say more on the phone."

Dan's smile faded. "I can't believe he's flying here."

The two Cahills were quiet as each pondered what on earth Ian could have to say that was so important.

They didn't know that just around the corner of the living room, at the doorway of the kitchen, Jake Rosenbloom was listening.

* * *

"Amy, Dan." Jake's face was white as he stumbled into the living room. "I was just checking my phone and saw a message from Sinead. Ian is the mole."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Ian?" Amy repeated, incredulous.

Dan was the first to recover. "That double-faced Kabra. I always suspected it was him!"

"But Ian just left a message saying that he had information for us…" Amy said, still dubious.

"Well, obviously he's trying to lead us off track," Dan said, clenching his fists.

"He sounded genuinely upset," Amy protested.

"Well, we all know how good of an actor Cobra is," Dan said, giving her a pointed look. Amy's face flushed as she remembered when Ian had tricked her into thinking he liked her.

"Amy, are you really going to defend him?"

"Let's leave," Jake urged. Amy and Dan hurried to their rooms to pack, and Jake allowed a small smile to flash across his face. _This is really too easy…_

* * *

Ian hurried into the hotel that Amy had texted him the address of. The hotel was gray and small with only six stories. The lobby had dirt smudges all over the floor and little kids running around. Normally, Ian would have recoiled from what was obviously a three-star hotel, but he had more pressing issues on his mind.

"Amy and Daniel Cahill?" he snapped to the clerk.

The balding, middle-aged man waved towards the stairs. "Oh, yes, go right up. Room 308."

"Elevator isn't working," he added, when Ian's eyes slid sideways.

Gritting his teeth, Ian dashed to the staircase and took the stairs two at a time. Rosenbloom was probably there with Amy and Dan, so he'd have to wait until he could somehow eject him out of the room and then flee with Amy and Dan.

He knocked briskly on the door of 308. When it opened, he didn't hesitate to come in.

That was his mistake.

Large, hairy hands were suddenly around his throat and a wet, black cloth was pressed against his face.

"Ah, Mr. Kabra, I have been waiting for you." The words seemed faint, far away, even though Ian knew the voice must be close to his face.

_Rosenbloom must have found out somehow…_ Ian struggled to stay awake, but everything was becoming hazy. His eyelids started to flutter close…

_No, no…_

…until he could no longer see the black of the cloth covering his eyes, but was falling into a sinister and all-encompassing darkness…

It was too late.

* * *

Angelo Esposito was a large, burly man. His build was rather unusual for a man of his profession.

Angelo Esposito was an assassin.

He was also a Lucian.

As a child, he had been mocked by the other Lucians for his hefty body. His parents were disappointed when he was recruited by his school wrestling and weight-lifting teams instead of the SISMI.

"A Lucian? More like a Tomas," people usually sneered.

"You're a disgrace to the Lucian branch," an uncle high-ranked in the government had once told him.

Angelo didn't belong in the Lucian branch. Anyone could see that, especially the Vespers.

_Power, money_, they had whispered. _Fear. Respect._

It had been a few years since Angelo turned double-agent for the Vespers.

Not a day passed by that he didn't swear vengeance on the Lucian branch.

Angelo looked down at the limp body of the pampered son of his former branch leader.

A nasty smile spread across the assassin's fleshy face.

_Kill him_, Vesper Three had commanded.

Oh, he was too willing to oblige. But first, Angelo would have his revenge.

Angelo drew out his favorite dagger. Ian Kabra's face looked as soft as cake.

_Much too delicious not to be cut_, Angelo thought gleefully as he put on his gloves.

* * *

A full moon beamed on the room from the dark blue sky.

Below, Jake Rosenbloom marveled at the beauty.

The room was dark and silent. Across from him, short strands of hair were scattered messily on a pillow. In the shine of the moon, Dan's hair looked more blond than brown.

Jake could just make out a lump on the bed further down. He grinned, remembering when Amy had slept on his shoulder on the plane and sleeptalked right into his ear. He had caught his name a few times.

Amy Cahill was falling for Jake Rosenbloom. Jake's grin widened, thinking of how Amy's geeky boyfriend would react to this turn of events.

Everything was falling right into plan. The Ian incident had been unexpected, but was only a slight hitch that was currently being taken care of.

His thoughts were interrupted by a snore. Jake tensed as Dan stirred, but the younger boy simply flopped onto his side and was blissfully deep in sleep again.

Jake listened to the faint breathing of the two Cahills next to him. It would be so easy to kill them. They would never see it coming.

But Vesper One needed them to fetch the parts of the Doomsday machine for him. Jake grimaced at the thought of Vesper One. He was using Jake as a baby-sitter for the Cahills. It was completely a waste of Jake's skills.

But it was no matter. He would suck up to Vesper One now and aim to replace Isabel Kabra as Vesper Two.

And then he would be in fighting range for Vesper One.

Jake smiled. People always fell for his smile, his charm. They underestimated him, just like Ian Kabra had.

Jake's phone beeped. It was a text from Angelo Esposito.

_Done._

The young Vesper smiled and closed his eyes. His dreams were full of glory and power.


End file.
